April Howells's "The Unforgettable Mailman"

With a background in magazine publishing, April Howells has built a career in global communications and employer branding. Raised in southern Ontario, she now resides on the west coast of Canada with her husband and a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog named Chief.

The Unforgettable Mailman is her debut novel.

Here Howells dreamcasts an adaptation of the new novel:

If The Unforgettable Mailman got optioned for a movie, I would cast Harrison Ford as Henry. (Please say yes, Harrison!) I can picture him bringing the humour and determination of Henry to the role, capturing hearts the same way he has in Shrinking and the Indiana Jones franchise.

I’d also cast Morgan Freeman as Stan, Henry’s close friend and confidante. Morgan Freeman was a substitute letter carrier in San Francisco in 1965, and it would be amazing to have him revive that role on screen.

I didn’t have either actor in mind while writing. My characters are so fully themselves in my mind, I never see them as anyone else. But, if I’m allowed to dream, this is my all-star cast.

I often hear from readers that they think it would make a wonderful film and I wholeheartedly agree. Plus, the Old Chicago Post Office is a rentable building now! I wonder if Steven Spielberg is looking to take on another 60s film inspired by true events?

Visit April Howells's website.

Q&A with April Howells.

--Marshal Zeringue

Helen Benedict's "The Soldier's House"

Helen Benedict, a British-American professor of journalism at Columbia University, is the author of nine novels, six books of nonfiction, and a play.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Soldier's House:

I've always imagined The Soldier's House as a play or a movie, set, as it is, in a house and community in upstate New York, with flashbacks to Iraq. The three main characters in the novel are Naema, an Iraqi widow; Khalil, her husband, who appears in flashbacks before he is killed; and Jimmy, an American soldier.

Even though Riz Ahmed isn't Iraqi, or even an Arab, he would be a perfect Khalil: handsome, charismatic, deeply kind and yet determined. I would also love to see the Irish actor Paul Macal play Jimmy Donnell, if he can do a good American accent. But most important of all would be who play Naema. My choice is the Moroccan actor, Oumaima Barid, whose beauty, intelligence and intensity match those of Naema.

But there is one more principal character, too: Tariq, Naema's little one-legged son, who is full of life, curiosity and bravado. I have no idea who could play him, but all suggestions welcome.

Visit Helen Benedict's website.

My Book, The Movie: Sand Queen.

The Page 69 Test: Sand Queen.

The Page 69 Test: Wolf Season.

Q&A with Helen Benedict.

The Page 69 Test: The Good Deed.

--Marshal Zeringue

Garrett Curbow's "Whispers of Ink and Starlight"

Garrett Curbow is the author of Whispers of Ink and Starlight and the Daughter of Light trilogy, which was short-listed for the Publishers Weekly Selfies Award. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.

Here Curbow dreamcasts an adaptation of Whispers of Ink and Starlight:

We have made it to the future and Whispers of Ink and Starlight is being adapted into a film! Yay! In this fictitious reality, I, the author, get total executive control over who will direct this adaptation and which actors will star in it.

Whispers of Ink and Starlight is a coming-of-age, literary romance with a heavy dash of magical realism. It follows Nelle, a young woman written into life, and her relationship with James, a young man from a small town in Georgia, as they juggle the independence of adulthood and Nelle’s magical drawbacks.

For the director, I would hire Greta Gerwig. Coming off the tails of Barbie (2023), Little Women (2019), and the upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia adaptation, I want her directorial vision more than anyone else’s. Whispers of Ink and Starlight is a dangerous novel to adapt because it travels fluidly between genres. If someone tries to make a romantic drama out of it, or if they ignore the romance in favor of the magic system, they will lose the heart of the book.

It’s important to hire a director that has illustrated in the past that they can execute a unique, singular vision. Barbie is a perfect example of this. While tonally different from Whispers of Ink and Starlight, if any other writer or director had tried to make Barbie, they would have failed. Gerwig is skilled at balancing writing that contradicts visuals, and does so in a style that makes both elements shine together. I trust her to understand the breath and life of this book, and to translate it from page to screen.

There are three main roles that I want to discuss. The first two, James and Nelle, are arguably the most important and, therefore, the most difficult to cast.

For Nelle, I would cast Mckenna Grace. She is a talented actor who has been working since she was a child, and as a young adult now, she would be the right age to play Nelle. More than any other actors in this age group, I think she would be able to pull off Nelle’s fire, her strength, and her thirst for life.

James is harder for me to cast. Ideally, I would find a time traveling device, go back to 2004, and hire a young Milo Ventimiglia, the actor who played Jess in Gilmore Girls. He has the perfect look for James, and he would bring a layer to the character that would be exciting to see on-screen. In reality, I would love to cast an unknown actor to play James.

The third role is Wallace Quill, Nelle’s father. For this role, I would cast none other than Penn Badgley (Dan from Gossip Girl, Joe Goldberg from You). No one else could switch between Quill’s bone-chilling stare and charismatic smile in the blink of an eye like him.

Now that we have a director and our lead actors locked down, I can’t wait for the world to see my book, the movie.

Visit Garrett Curbow's website.

Q&A with Garrett Curbow.

Writers Read: Garrett Curbow.

The Page 69 Test: Whispers of Ink and Starlight.

--Marshal Zeringue